The Sinnoh region was a turning point in many ways for the Pokémon franchise. Aside from Ash finally getting some brains, as well as one of his best regional teams to date, it was the first region of the mainline series to be released on the Nintendo DS systems. It also introduced the physical/special split in Pokémon attacks, meaning many Pokémon were able to use their type more effectively than in the past.
Thirteen years later, many of the Pokémon introduced in Diamond and Pearl have since had many upgrades in the form of movepool improvements, Mega Evolutions, or stat increases, though not all from the sister region to Kanto and Johto were so lucky.
10 Stronger: Rotom
In the years since major changes were made to Rotom’s forms, it has become one of the most common competitive Pokémon in both doubles and singles battles, but that wasn’t always the case. When first introduced to the series, each appliance gave Rotom a boost in power and access to a new attack, but it wasn’t until Black and White that Rotom’s forms also changed its type from Ghost to whichever reflected the appliance best.
Over time, many of the different forms have been the go-to choice depending on which other Pokémon are seeing the most play, but the most common is Rotom-W, whose Water/Electric-type combined with the Levitate ability ensures that it is only weak to Grass-type attacks.
9 Weaker: Luxray
As far as early-game Pokémon go in Diamond and Pearl, Shinx is easily one of the best choices in the long run, as it can gain the ability Intimidate when it evolves into Luxray. Unfortunately, this is as far as Luxray’s usefulness has ever gone despite updates to its movepool that attempted to make it more powerful.
While it now has the likes of Wild Charge and multiple elemental Fang attacks at its disposal, it suffers from the same setbacks as other physical attacking Electric-type in that it misses out on the better options. Luxray made a return to the series in the Isle of Armor DLC, but has failed to make much of an impact despite the smaller pool of Pokémon to choose from.
8 Stronger: Togekiss
Togekiss is one of those Pokémon that has only ever gotten better as time goes on. Starting out having one of the most annoying movesets in the game, combining Thunder Wave and Air Slash alongside the Serene Grace ability ensured the opponent’s Pokémon could almost never make a move.
With the introduction of the Fairy-type, Togekiss received yet another boost in power alongside a handful of great attacks in Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam that would cement it as a great Dragon-type killer. The Dynamax mechanic has given it even more toys to play with, as Max Airstream turns this otherwise fairly slow fairy into a terrifying speedster.
7 Weaker: Floatzel
If players didn’t start their Sinnoh journey with Piplup, chances are they caught a Buizel along the way to fill the Water-type gap in their team. While Ash’s Buizel from the anime made it seem like it was a powerful Pokémon full of potential, the reality is that Floatzel doesn’t live up to those expectations.
While it does have Swift Swim, an ability that doubles its already brilliant speed in the rain, most Pokémon that have come in subsequent generations who have the same ability have outclassed it in nearly every way. While many older Pokémon have had their movepools updated, Floatzel’s remains incredibly shallow for a Water-type, holding it back from being used as much as the likes of Ludicolo and Kingdra.
6 Stronger: Lopunny
Lopunny may be somewhat of a joke Pokémon, but that hasn’t stopped it from occasionally rising above its status to become something more. With the introduction of Mega Evolution in X and Y, Loppuny gained a massive boost in speed and power as well as the additional Fighting-type.
While this didn’t help on the defense side, it meant that moves like High Jump Kick (which it could already make decent use of) suddenly became much more powerful and made it a real threat to many generation six teams. While it would never rise to the same status as Kangaskhan or Salamence, that didn’t stop it from being used altogether and was often used as a surprise choice when players wanted to mix their teams up a little.
5 Weaker: Darkrai
While the legendary Darkrai has always been a powerful Pokémon, it was its signature move, Dark Void, which really made this nightmare Pokémon a threat. Capable of putting both Pokémon to sleep in double battles with a base accuracy of 80, it meant that at least one of the opponent’s team was likely being put out of commission for a few turns.
Although Darkrai was often banned from tournament play, it meant that Smeargle would use Sketch to learn Dark Void instead, keeping the move alive for a while. These days, Dark Void’s accuracy has not only taken a massive hit, going from 80 to 50, but it also now only works when Darkrai uses it. While this helped keep Smeargle in check, it also meant that Darkrai has effectively lost the use of its signature move for the foreseeable future.
4 Stronger: Porygon-Z
The Porygon line got a massive boost in power with the release of Diamond and Pearl in the form of Porygon-Z, and then again in Black and White with the Eviolite item being created. Where Porygon-Z really began to shine, however, was with the introduction of Z-Moves and the move Z-Conversion.
This served as not only an omni boost, but it also allowed Porygon-Z to change its type, meaning that it was finally able to make full use of its incredibly deep movepool in the likes of Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Psychic.
3 Weaker: Vespiquen
Bug/Flying-type Pokémon are often seen as fairly weak compared to other Bug-type combinations, mainly due to their incredible weakness to Rock-type moves like Stealth Rocks. While Vespiquen was never on the level of Beautifly or Mothim, it never rose to meet the levels of Mega Pinsir or Gigantamax Butterfree either.
With the release of Sword and Shield came the revelation that many moves were being removed from the game, with one of those being Vespiquen’s signature healing move, Heal Order. While the reasoning for this has never been made clear, as Attack Order and Defend Order are still around, it did remove a crucial move from the Bug-type’s already shallow movepool, leaving it to fade into obscurity among the other Bug-types in generation eight.
2 Stronger: Infernape
For the most part, the Fire-type starter Pokémon tend to do the best competitively compared to others, though there are exceptions with Venusaur and, most recently, Rillaboom. While Infernape never rose to the god-like level of Blaziken, it did receive a nice power boost in the form of its Hidden Ability, Iron Fist.
This not only powered up its Fighting-type moves in Close Combat and Mach Punch, but also the elemental Punches, including Thunder Punch, giving it some much needed raw power against Water and Flying-type Pokémon that would otherwise threaten it in battle.
1 Weaker: Torterra
Unlike Infernape and Empoleon, who both received great Hidden Abilities in Iron Fist and Defiant respectfully, Torterra wasn’t so lucky, as it received Shell Armor. While this alone didn’t weaken it, it did mean that it wasn’t nearly as useful in battle as its companion starters, whose movepools also gained some new life in the following years, unlike Torterra.
Its Grass/Ground-typing also means that, despite its defensive bulk, it will likely faint to any halfway decent Ice-type attack that is fairly common, particularly Ice Beam and Freeze Dry. These two factors have kept it from climbing in popularity alongside the other older Grass-type starters like Venusaur and Sceptile who have been able to stay relevant despite their age.
